Anastoechus barbatus
Taxonomy
This page represents the following TreeOfLife-200M taxonomic path.[1]
- Kingdom: Animalia
- Phylum: Arthropoda
- Class: Insecta
- Order: Diptera
- Family: Bombyliidae
- Genus: Anastoechus
- Species: Anastoechus barbatus
Visual Description
Anastoechus barbatus is a bee fly characterized by a robust, hairy appearance typical of the family Bombyliidae. Observations from the TreeOfLife-200M dataset indicate that adults possess a dense covering of pile (hairs) over much of the body, which contributes to their bee-like or fuzzy appearance.[1] The face is rounded in side view and covered in dense pile, a feature that helps distinguish the genus Anastoechus from the related genus Systoechus, which has a more triangular, sparsely-piled face.[2] Specimens typically range from 6–12 mm in length.[2]
Biology and Distribution
Anastoechus barbatus is a species of bee fly that has been recorded in various parts of Canada, including western Canada, the James Bay region of Quebec, and Ontario.[2] Although it is considered a rarely collected species in Ontario, this may be due to limited collecting effort, and it is likely present across boreal Ontario.[2] Adults are typically observed flying during the months of July and August.[2]
Like other members of the genus Anastoechus, A. barbatus functions as an ectoparasitoid. Adults are known to seek hosts over open, sandy ground, and their larvae have been recorded as attacking grasshopper egg pods.[2]
Gallery
References
- 1 2 Dataset view for Animalia / Arthropoda / Insecta / Diptera / Bombyliidae / Anastoechus / barbatus constructed from imageomics/TreeOfLife-200M records under this taxonomic path. Hugging Face Datasets. https://huggingface.co/datasets/imageomics/TreeOfLife-200M.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 . Canadian Journal of Arthropod Identification. 2008. https://doi.org/10.3752/cjai.2008.06.